How I Choose a First-Line Antidepressant (Course Excerpt)

Season 1 of Collaborative Psychiatry QuickTakes may be complete, but the learning continues.

In this episode, I’m sharing a short excerpt from the full Audio Course Managing Depression in Primary Care. This clip walks through a practical framework for choosing a first-line antidepressant and setting expectations so patients stay on treatment long enough to see benefit.

You’ll hear:

• How I choose between bupropion, escitalopram, and sertraline
• How side effect profiles guide initial selection
• How to frame the “we don’t know which one will work yet” conversation
• Why anticipatory guidance about placebo response and timing matters

If you’ve been enjoying the QuickTakes, this excerpt gives you a feel for how the full Audio Courses go deeper with structured, practical, and high-yield learning designed for real-world outpatient care.

Explore More

Get more high-yield psychiatric education for primary care and outpatient clinicians at: collaborative-psychiatry.org

Audio Courses Available Now

• Managing Depression in Primary Care: A comprehensive framework for diagnosis, screening, medication selection, switching and augmentation strategies, treatment-resistant depression, and the broader treatment landscape including psychotherapy, neuromodulation, and ketamine/esketamine.

Coming Soon

• ADHD Pharmacology: A Practical Prescribing Framework
• Managing Alcohol Use Disorder

Keep the Learning in Your Back Pocket

If you’ve been listening to the QuickTakes, don’t forget to download the associated PDF clinic resources and patient handouts available on each episode page. These quick-reference tools are designed to support you in real time — in the exam room, not just in your earbuds.

Check out all the available resources here.